Volunteers Clear Rubble and Plant Olive Trees at Gaza’s al-Shifa Hospital

Volunteers at al-Shifa Hospital cleared rubble from the grounds and planted olive trees in the courtyard as a symbol of hope. The work took place at the site where more than 500 bodies were recovered from mass graves. Once Gaza’s largest medical complex, al-Shifa Hospital was devastated by repeated Israeli attacks and sieges during Israel’s war on Gaza.

The hospital compound, long a central pillar of medical care in the territory, now stands as a stark marker of the conflict’s toll. The olive trees were planted deliberately in the courtyard. Volunteers carried out the dual tasks of clearing debris and adding the young trees in a single coordinated effort at the site.

Al Jazeera reported the scene on 10 May 2026. The article detailed both the physical labor of clearing rubble and the symbolic act of planting olive trees at the battered facility.

That grim total underscored the scale of violence that swept across the grounds during repeated assaults and prolonged sieges. The hospital’s fall from prominence was complete. What had been Gaza’s largest medical complex was reduced to ruins, its infrastructure shattered and its grounds turned into a place of both recovery and remembrance.

Volunteers continued their work even amid the visible destruction. Their planting of olive trees stood as a deliberate counterpoint to the surrounding devastation, an act rooted in the hope that something might yet grow again on the site.